Family cook up a real taste of the county

Adele and Ken Johnson, assisted by their daughter Abbie, have launched a Real Taste of Northumberland.

The venture sees them create home-cooked meals,made from scratch and packed with local ingredients, for visitors staying in holiday cottages across the county.

They’ll also put together a menu for a party or a special event at your home.

Adele – whose specialities range from pork tenderloin with ginger wine and apricot and apple stuffing, to rabbit and squirrel pie – makes meals to meet her clients’ requests.

Everything is prepared and cooked at the holiday cottage, with Abbie waitressing and the family washing up before they leave.

Adele, who has previously cooked for former boy band Take That when she was working in North Yorkshire, said: “We specialise in fine dining but we don’t have a rigid menu – everything is tailored to what the customer wants.

“We can cater for as few or as many as you want, for example, we have a booking for 27 people for an 80th birthday party in December.

“We’re proud of Northumberland and we really believe we’re giving visitors a real taste of the county.”

The family was inspired to start The Real Taste of Northumberland to showcase the great ingredients that can be found across the county and give visitors an authentic flavour of the area. Ken said: “We’ve identified a particular market of people staying in holiday cottages, but we also cater for local people who fancy chilling out and booking their own local fine-dining meal in their own home.

“We’re really enjoying making Northumberland ingredients the star of the show and introducing as many people as possible to some of the superb tastes we have here.”